.png)
This past few weeks it seems that many of the conversations on fitness and injury recovery have been more frequent. I am not sure if it is from the colder weather or cedar fever, but the topics on aches and pains seemed to increase. When the people that are in the 40 plus age groups jump into the conversation they can also complain that growing older is not for sissies. The variables that comprise injury recovery can amount to a wide variety of methods for rehabilitation. You have the advice that a person received from a medical doctor, or therapist, to a person that had success from administering treatment passed down from their grandparents, or advice from a brilliant flashing light one night that came to them from out of the dark reaches of space. These are a few of the conversations that seem to be going around between those injured and recovering individuals.
There is a theory called the “half-life” of fitness and conditioning. The theory states that the amount of fitness, strength, or speed, you have trained for over the past six months to reach a new level of performance will decrease by half if you take a month off from training. The half level is not necessarily taken as a literal amount. If you are lifting 200 pounds and take a month off your level will not drop down to 100 pounds. It means that you will return to a level that probably started at six months ago. Think of losing half of the gain that you have made from that starting point. If the lifter started at 150 pounds, and can now lift 200 pounds, then after a month of not lifting the lifter can probably lift 175 pounds. If you started at running 10 minute mile times, and after six months you are able to run a nine minute mile, taking a month off from running will find you running 9:30 minutes per mile. After two months off the return is once again the half live and will be 9:45 minutes per mile. After three months you will be back to square one of a 10 minutes per mile time. The one thing that is in your favor is that when you return to training it will only take you three months to get back to a nine minutes per mile time instead of the six months it took the first time.
Injury recovery will vary with the severity of the injury. A fit, or strong, athlete will recovery in a much faster time than a non-conditioned person. An example is when I was a rehabilitation specialist at West Point and we had injured cadets come through our program. It seemed that the medical doctors had a set date that they would do knee surgeries. One cadet came in five weeks before the date and we gave him a program of strengthening exercises prior to his surgery. Another cadet came in about one week before the date scheduled for surgeries. The first cadet was back to normal duty after two weeks from surgery. The second cadet was not back to full strength for close to six weeks.
A person that is stronger and more physically fit has a much faster recovery time after an injury. This varies with the type, location, and severity of the injury, but generally speaking, the stronger and more fit a person is the faster the recovery time.
When you add in the variable of age things can also affect injuries and recovery time. I used to tell my students that, “Remember all those injuries you had when you were young? Well, when you reach the age of over 40 years they will come back to bother you again.” The one thing that can delay those previous aches and pains from your youth is to maintain your fitness level as long as you possibly can. It is when you stop training, or back off a regular fitness schedule, that those previous aches return. It will be called bursitis, arthritis, or rheumatism of some form. Range of motion will decrease if you quit stretching, muscle weakness will decrease if you quit lifting, and that fast pace in running will be a little slower.
The one thing that seems to be most difficult when you get older is that if you take a time off from training, and then decide to make a “come back,” the previous level of performance will never quite be reached. You will get close to that peak performance of your youth, but never quite reach the same level. That is why you have age groups in road races or strength contests. Road races have awards for the Overall Champion, but they also have awards for the Masters Overall Champion, the Senior Masters Overall Champion, and the Grand Masters Overall Champion. Age takes its toll. The one thing that changes is that in some sports the increased age actually helps. I recall one year in Moe’s Better Half Marathon that 14 of the top 15 runners were all over 40 years. The Overall Masters Women was in the 50 years age category. My most memorable realization that senior citizens can improve with age came from a race I entered. I usually placed in races in my 40s. On my 50th birthday I entered the Fiesta Mission 10K Run in San Antonio. I was expecting to do very well since I was probably the youngest 50 year old in the race. When I finished in ninth place in that age group I had to wonder, “Where did all of these older, faster runners come from?” If I would have stayed in the 40 year age category I would have placed.
The key to staying injury free as you age is to keep training, maintain a good fitness and strength level, and you can keep the “Old age is not for sissies” syndrome off your back for a few more good years.
